11 March, 2019

London City Airport has a bright new look!


Things are getting a whole lot brighter in London's docklands today as the small but perfectly formed London City Airport unveiled a bright and bold new brand identity which its hopes will reflect a more dynamic, vibrant and contemporary look which is synonymous with the modern London it serves.

The transformed design, utilises vivid colours, a creative layout, and a heart motif, reinforces London City’s role as London’s most central airport – at the heart of the city and an airport which many passengers love to use.


A video which brings to life the new London City Airport brand can be viewed below!

The identity change comes as the airport continues to grow and appeal to a changing mix of passengers, particularly as more leisure travellers and East Londoners, joining the established business traveller base. Between June and September 2018, for example, the proportion of leisure travellers exceeded business travellers 52% vs 48% , and a record 4.8 million total passengers used the airport last year.

The new look isn't just made up out of some random colours the designer had a fancy for on the day,  nope,  they have been specially chosen to reflect the airport.  The vivid blue represents the unique location of London City Airport, right in the heart of London’s historic Royal Docks in Newham, close to the River Thames, the iconic waterway that has served London for thousands of years. Use of vivid green represents the many parks and green spaces in London, and combined, the use of bright colours confirms a real departure from the conservative grey and blue combination, which the new brand replaces.


The new identity comes during a £500 million four-year development programme, which will transform the airport and make the experience of travelling to and from London even better.  To help celebrate the birth of the new look,  the airport also put up a special doughnut wall!

Robert Sinclair, CEO of London City Airport, said: “With our development programme now underway, we have an amazing opportunity to develop an airport experience that truly reflects modern London. Along with the design of our new airport, this new brand identity will help us reflect everything that is great about London, celebrate its preeminent position as a truly international city, broaden our appeal to different types of passengers and make the experience of London even better for those visiting the capital, for business or leisure.”

Neil Dillon, Marketing Director at London City Airport, said: “The brand-new look is engaging and emotive, with design cues which reflect our location, our role in London, and our evolving customer base. The new design is much more fitting for our 21st century airport in the world’s greatest city and this sentiment has resonated in our research with existing and new customers. From a design perspective, the new branding is agile and has huge creative potential for interaction with different mediums and spaces, both now and in our future terminal building.”

To capture the creative energy of London, The Allotment, an award-winning London-based brand and design agency, were appointed by the airport to deliver the new look. As well as vivid colours, the logo employs a modern typography, created especially by The Allotment, complimenting the Gilroy font for wider uses. Both are accessible and familiar in design, which will be helpful for international audiences.

The new corporate identity has been rolled out from today across all digital platforms, with the airport’s assets switching over to the new look over the coming months. An outdoor advertising campaign, designed by creative agency, Cravens, also commences on 11th March, with site-specific creatives that introduce the airport and its new look across London.



At first glance, I did think, rather confusingly, it spelt BN down the middle, however that was looking at the new logo on twitter, which is rather small.  Seeing the full length design and in a bigger format, I can see it is DON to go with the horizontal LON, which makes far more sense!  The bright colours are striking and oddly appealing, it strikes a bold and exciting image and conjures up feelings of warmth and happiness,  both of which are experienced when travelling through the airport that is one of our global favourites.  Congratulations on your new look London City Airport, from all the team at A101,  we can hardly wait to see it up close on our next trip out of LCY. We're only sorry we didn't get to sample one of the special doughnuts!

(yes we're British and we prefer the English spelling of doughnut not the American English way of donut!)




All images from London City Airport


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